We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eye Sticker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Eye, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

one of my most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on recently was my “free Luigi” street art campaign.
Luigi Mangione, as we know is being charged of a murder of the CEO of United Health Care insurance company.
I created an artwork of an orange pill container, and Luigi is inside of it with orange prisoner uniform.
as we know, this event got a lot of attention, and very controversial subject to many.
many Americans feel trapped by insurance companies and the medical industry, and it feels like a lot of injustice is happening to many people, and a lot of messy and impossible bureaucracy prevents from people to get better and heal from their conditions.
this subject is very close to my heart, since Ive been sick myself for 3 years with chronic Lyme disease.
Lyme disease can be a devastation disease, and ruins many many lives. Lyme disease can have many different symptoms, and many people get misdiagnosed with other conditions and never really get better. also, not having proper updated testing for it or an effective treatment for it is very disturbing, especially when its so common.
being sick and suffering for so long opened my eyes to the medical industry and how corrupted and useless it is. the anger people feel towards that industry is valid, real and needs to be heard.
I am not in any means support any act of violence or murder, but I did think that this event triggered me to work on a piece that explains the feeling of being trapped by the medical system. and that’s when I came up with the visual.
I pasted up 100’s of posters around New York City, and it blew up and went viral. people really related to it and felt seen, and that is why I do street art. its a way to touch many people, and making noise.
my Free Luigi art also got featured in many websites, tv, and magazines including a feature in Rolling Stone magazine.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I go by Eye Sticker.
im a female Brooklyn based visual artist, and a street artist. I’ve been drawing and making art and design since I can remember myself.
started my practice in a more professional way during the pandemic in 2020, when I finally had the time to lean into the art world. I started off by making a sticker, which is my logo. its a pink eye with bold lashes. i slapped tens of thousands of those around NY and worldwide. I didn’t know where these stickers will take me, as I only planned to do only them. but the stickers were only a start- right after I started doing wheat paste art, pasting up art around the city, which got my more recognition in the street art world. from street art, the way to fine art and galleries was quick, I picked up a brush and for the first time painted canvases, and started showing in group art shows, and eventually murals, large scale and smaller scale, for businesses and community.
my art is a mix of realism, graphic with surrealism touch to it. it daily talks about subjects like mental health, spirituality and social matters.
in most of my artwork there’s a hyper realistic eye or more than one, in black and white, which is my staple and unique finger print.
I use bold colors, and surrealistic compositions to catch the viewers eye, and create exciting focal point in the street\space. I think an eye is something that many people can relate to, since it has some depth to it, a window to the soul. the hyperrealism black and white eye with the graphic saturated backgrounds create fun contrasting visuals.
since my practice involves so many mediums- stickers, street art, gallery work and murals- I feel like I have a lot of ways to express myself, and ways to channel my energy. some days all I want to do is slapping thousands of stickers, some days I want to make public art that tells a story, and some days I just want to make a street corner look more vibrant and engage with the community. I also enjoy making merchandise of my art and brand- like hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, pillows and more, to connect with the audience more and make affordable ways to support me and my art.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

yes, my drive and motivation is remembering that skill and creativity are here to be used. I spent too many years knowing I have this in me, and not doing anything about it. I think the main driving force in me is that, and to be remembered in some kind of way. when I create art, the second the artwork is finished – it becomes something else. it served me for the time working on it, I let myself be vulnerable, but now it belongs to the world. not mine anymore. I love engaging with my audience and hear what they feel about it and what my art means to them. at this point it doesn’t matter why I created it, or what it served in my journey, it matters what u feel when looking at it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

in my view there’s a lot society can do to support artists and creatives.
these days, things like AI are replacing an actual human. it can be tempting to use an easy technology as such, and it can create cool images, but nothing in this world can replace a human being, an artist, flesh and blood. machines cannot replays real emotional intelligence, real and relatable point of view. an artist\ designer brings the soul and finger print to any project. you can give the project to 10 different people and they will all look so different from one another, because we all come from different background and have different styles and point of view. and this is what’s so beautiful about art. computers cannot do that.
hire an artist, hire a designer, get a real art with soul!
another thing that society can do, and it connects to the above, is to purchase art from artists! it sound obvious, but it does make a big difference in your life and space when you own art. it also keeps the creative ecosystem alive.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://eye-sticker.creator-spring.com
• Instagram: @eye.sticker

Image Credits

1. ARTIST photo of me in black and white (with face mask)- please credit photographer STEVEN R LILLIS.
2. ALL photos of artworks- just say photo by Eye Sticker.